Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-11
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THE SLAVE TRADE.
AN OLD ENGINEER TELLS WHAT HE
KNEW OF THE BUSINESS.

KNEW OF The BUSINESS.
In the Days When Negroes Were Brought
From Africa and Sold in New Or
leans - White Girls Sold to African
Chiefs.
AYes," said William Jack Haynes, the CEN
tenarian, the other day, II was in the slave
trade for three years-that is, was engineer
on the steamship Grampus; which ran from
New Orleans to Africa for three years, buy.
ing negroes in Africa and selling them in
New Orleans"
"How did you get possession Of the negroes
to bring them overg"
Il will tell you how we generally managed,
and we always had a good load on our return
trip. You know in those DAYS, fifty or sixty
years ago, the servant girls in the south were
OF a very ordinary and worthless kind, and
would do almost anything. Many of them
had no home, and few, if any, friends, and
so no one noticed their departure. The cap
tain Of the ship Grampus would induce num-
Der Of these girls to 90 on board as servants,
and when we reached the coast of Africa
we would cast anchor, and the captain and his
men would have the boats lowered and 90
ashore. They would soon ascertain where the
chief or head man Of the tribe lived, and
then they would take one or two or the girls
ashore with them and pay visit to the head
of the savage tribe. The girls were ALWAYS
willing to 60 and see the country and when
they reached the African chief they were
made an article Of merchandise, Just as were
the trinketS that we carried over with them.
The captain would negotiate by signs when
no interpreter could be had, and the savage
chief most always was charmed with the
white girls, and was possessed with a strong
desire to have them remain He would give
them all kinds of presents and make much ado
over them, and it was sby taking advantage
of this weakness that the captain was almost
always successful in bartering them to him
for as many negroes of his tribe as he could
carry away. Sometimes he would have to
leave two girls if he brought back very many
Africans"
MORE OR LESS STRATEGY
"These girls were then forced to stay?"
There was always more or less strategy
used, and they generally consented to remain
until the ship returned. Through the over
lures OF the chief and the assurance that
everything the country afforded would be at
their command, and partly through the
threats of the captain and his promises to re-
turn, they generally remained, seemingly con-
tent to wait for our return but always waited
In vain. We would make up our load of
slaves, turning certain number of them in
each evening and storing them securely in the
hold, and, by repeating this each day, we
would, with the chiefs help, soon get as many
as we cared to sail with. They were never
obstreperous, and seemed perfectly content as
long As they got plenty to eat, and were joy
GUS in their barbaric conversations in the
ships hold Occasionally one would die, and
we would throw him into the sea, and then
the others would make strange motions.
think they worshiped the sun and moon
when in their own country"
"And could you get ship load of negroes
for two servant girls!"
ayes, sir; that's what we did. OF course. |
there were more or less trinkets given, but we |
never hoped to accomplish anything until we |
had made peace with the chief of the tribe, |
and this could most always be done with two |
girls. We never left more than three with |
the head of tribe"
"What kind of slaves did you prefer to
bring?"
ave always picked up the young bucks,
say from Il to 20 years old We also brought
a number of females about the same age. We
frequently brought them all up on deck, but
when storm came they would drop back to
the hold in an instant at the wave of a white
hand. They were obedient, and I never
knew one to show any inclination to be other
wise"
"What report would you give on your re-
turn of those girls who went out with your
THEY LEARNED THE TRUTH
"They were, as rule, never inquired after,
but on one occasion girl whom we left hap
pened to belong TO pretty good family, and
when we returned to New Orleans her friends
were on hand to meet her, and when she did
not appear they besought the captain eagerly
as to what had become of her. He informed
them that she had preferred to remain in the
sunny land until the good ship returned. This
did not at all satisfy them, and they pushed
their inquiries day and night until they
learned the truth, and Capt. johnson for
this was his name) was in danger of being
mobbed, when be quietly set sail one evening
and passed down the river and out through
the gulf and | never heard of him after
ward"
"Then you did not return to African
mo; it was just at this time that had an
offer to take charge of an engine on the first
steamboat ever run on the lower Mississippi,
and l accepted it."
"When You were in the slave trade did YOU
ever return to the place from where you Sc
cured your previous cargoa'
"No, indeed; we would always got some
other point, but we heard afterward that the
girls left there did much good for the natives,
teaching them TO sew, cook and work"
did the Africans have anv idea at the time
that they were being sold into slavery!"
Not the slightest. They thought from the
signs that had been made to them that thew
were coming TO a place where all was lovely;
where the sun Shone brighter and the moon
looked larger, and TO eat tropical fruit would
be their chief employment. Sad indeed, must
they have felt when they began to realize that
they had been sold into slavery, from which
it was as impossible for them TO extricate
themselves as it would be to change the color
OF their own skin"
"How many did you bring to America
in ALA
Il kept no record of this myself, bu. on
one occasion | remember we'll we had one ,
board, and we landed them
safely in New Orleans. They were all sold in
less than a week. We brought six ship loads
over during the three years l was with the
ship, and l suppose the total number would
be at least 7,0o0.7 6
"Where were they kept in New Orleans
until they were sold!'
"They were taken to what was known as |
the negro pen, which was an incloSure where
q large shed was built. In this Enclosure |